CVE-2026-23669
Published: 10 March 2026
Summary
CVE-2026-23669 is a high-severity Use After Free (CWE-416) vulnerability in Microsoft Windows 10 21H2. Its CVSS base score is 8.8 (High).
Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Exploitation of Remote Services (T1210); ranked in the top 44.6% of CVEs by exploit likelihood; it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.
The strongest mitigations our analysis identified are NIST 800-53 SI-2 (Flaw Remediation) and RA-5 (Vulnerability Monitoring and Scanning).
Deeper analysis
CVE-2026-23669, published on 2026-03-10, is a use-after-free vulnerability (CWE-416) in the RPC Runtime. It carries a CVSS 3.1 base score of 8.8 (AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H), indicating high severity due to its network accessibility, low attack complexity, and potential for significant impacts.
An authorized attacker with low privileges (PR:L) can exploit this vulnerability remotely over the network without requiring user interaction. Successful exploitation enables arbitrary code execution, compromising confidentiality, integrity, and availability to a high degree.
Microsoft's advisory provides mitigation details, including patches, in the update guide at https://msrc.microsoft.com/update-guide/vulnerability/CVE-2026-23669. Security practitioners should consult this resource for deployment instructions and workarounds.
EU & UK References
- 🇪🇺 ENISA EUVD: EUVD-2026-10590
Vulnerability details
Use after free in RPC Runtime allows an authorized attacker to execute code over a network.
- CWE(s)
Related Threats
MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise TechniquesAI
Why these techniques?
Use-after-free in RPC Runtime enables remote low-priv RCE, directly facilitating exploitation of remote services (T1210) and privilege escalation (T1068).
CVEs Like This One
Affected Assets
Mitigating Controls
Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI
Timely flaw remediation directly patches the use-after-free vulnerability in RPC Runtime, preventing exploitation as recommended in the vendor advisory.
Memory protection safeguards such as ASLR and DEP mitigate exploitation of the use-after-free vulnerability by protecting against unauthorized memory access.
Vulnerability scanning identifies the CVE-2026-23669 use-after-free flaw in RPC Runtime, enabling timely remediation.